


We're Gonna Sing It Again

by LunarLullabies



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: BUT ITS WORTH IT BECAUSE THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS HAVE EMOTIONS, F/M, Its a real slow burn, SERIOUSLY THIS IS TAKING CHAPTERS TO GET TO THE ACTUAL ACTION, he really just suffers most of his life, hell is worse, if only they never got familiar with hades, orpheus isn't allowed to have nice things, parenting is hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2020-05-31 13:49:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19427230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarLullabies/pseuds/LunarLullabies
Summary: He got more chances and life finally got to go on, until one day a young girl shows up in Hadestown, and Orpheus isn't alone looking for her.





	1. Hold You Forever

Hades called Orpheus back again in the winter. It was a game to him, a rematch he had to win. To watch the young boy get so lost in his own head, so stuck on his previous mistake. It was never a trick, Orpheus only thought it had been. He had spent the following year barely alive, and the old god felt sorry for him. He was the one who revived his marriage with Persephone, maybe he deserved another chance. When winter came again, Hermes brought the boy to Hadestown. No long walk there, no fighting, just delivered back to the underworld to try to free his songbird again. A year of living as an empty husk, and then to see Eurydice again - Orpheus didn’t believe it was true, and he made the same fatal mistake even sooner. He turned around again, not to look at Eurydice, at Hades. To see if he was being tricked, only to trick himself. He had looked behind and lost his lover again.

The third winter came. Two full years without Eurydice, two years without music or joy. But that year was easier. If he had been given another chance already, why wouldn’t he get another one? Sure enough, in the middle of winter, Hermes arrives at the poet’s door. Upon entering Hadestown, Hades was there. He smiled his cold smile and simply said “Three strikes and you’re out.”

This time, Orpheus didn’t speak to Eurydice, didn’t pay her any attention.

_ The rest of our lives if you don’t turn around today. _

Instead, he spoke to the goddess who gave him so much. In the spring and summer, Persephone would visit Orpheus, bringing him news about Eurydice, promising him she was all right and cared for. Worked to the bone, yes, but not being harmed. She still hoped that he would save her, as did Persephone. She believed in the young boy, there was something in him she had seen in Hades long ago.

_ Love can make you powerful. _

“Do you think I can do it?” His voice was soft, filled with the doubt he carried with him at all times.

“I do.”

“Is it a trick?”

“No. It never has been.”

“Two years alone.”

“And plenty more to spend with her.”

“So what do I do?”

The goddess smiled. “Stop thinking about the past. Imagine your future with her.”

For the third time, when the doubt filled his mind, Orpheus imagined sitting with his wife in the flowers. Of holding her at night. Of all the songs he would write with his muse back in his life.

Eurydice felt the clean air fill her lungs, the cold a relief after years in the underworld’s warmth. She could count the steps needed on one hand.

_ Three. Two.  _

She closed her eyes and took a final step. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see the snowy ground and the sky speckled with stars. A few steps ahead of her was Orpheus.

“Eurydice?” He kept his back to her.

“It’s me.”

The words that ripped his world apart were the same words that put it together again. He opened his eyes and for the first time in two years, Orpheus truly got to look at his lover. Dirt plastered her face and hands, her eyes were dark, her small body covered in scrapes and bruises.

She had never looked so beautiful. 

She was there and they were together. Orpheus wrapped his arms around her, her body still fitting perfectly with his. His kissed her and wiped tears from her eyes, ignoring his own. Despite the biting cold, they let themselves collapse onto the ground, neither speaking. There was nothing to say. They stayed like that until Eurydice’s nose turned red, a welcomed sign of her returned life. They made their way to the small home they had once shared, hand in hand. Orpheus stared at her the entire walk, refusing to take his eyes off her, as though doing so would cause him to lose her again.

Two long, cold years had passed alone. Three painful voyages into the underworld. They were together again, and could be happy. They could have the life that Persephone had told him to imagine.

~

Time passed, spring came, and that meant new life. Eurydice had been crying the whole night, trying to suppress her yelling. Orpheus was outside, his wife’s cries shattering him. But then there was silence, a deafening silence that made all the air leave his lungs and the room crush in around him.

And then there was a cry. A sharp cry from inside the room, and Orpheus went inside to see Eurydice with a blanket in her arms. If Orpheus thought he loved Eurydice, there weren’t words to describe how he felt at the sight of his daughter. Of course, their joy didn’t remain private for long, as a few days later there was a knock at the door. Orpheus and Eurydice never considered themselves to be too special in the world until two gods appeared to congratulate them on their child. Hermes with a smile and Persephone beside him with a bouquet of familiar red carnations. Orpheus went to take find a vase while the goddess embraced his wife.

“Don’t worry about water,” she said. “They’ll never wilt.”

Eurydice placed the sleeping child in Persephone’s arms. After their painful winters, they felt safe having a child in the spring. Hermes was the one to ask the important question.

“So Songbird, what’s her name?”

“Orpheus chose it.” She smiled and turned to her husband. Orpheus blushed as he answered.

“Melpomene. It means “to sing.””

Hermes made a curious noise, but nodded and smiled. “One of the Muses.”

Years passed. Melpomene was the perfect child - smart, kind, quizzical. She listened to her father’s music and acted as his second muse. She had her mother’s ingenuity and wit. At six years old, she could charm Hermes with a story, and no other child could say they were visited by the goddess Persephone nearly every weekend of the spring and summer. It seemed as though life was perfect, but every beautiful song still had to play a finale.


	2. Strange Is The Call of This Strange Man

As the days got cooler, Orpheus and Eurydice felt their fears and worries build. Winter used to be hard enough, and although they got by in autumn, they spend that time preparing for the bitter cold like small animals before a hibernation. It was hard enough finding food or firewood for the two of them. They still shuddered to remember the conditions that caused Eurydice to go to Hadestown. Before the seasons change, an old god had to go up top and find some important girls.

The wind wasn’t too cold, and the snow had yet to fall. The final days of livable weather. Melpomene was playing with other children, laughing and dancing to the sound of her father’s guitar from their doorway. 

_ She’s just like her mother.  _ Orpheus would have sworn the girl committed her parents’ dances to memory.

“Orpheus!” Eurydice called to him from inside the small house. He turned to Melpomene.

“Mel, I’ll be back in a minute. It’s going to get dark soon, make sure you stay by the house.” It still pained him to turn his back on one of his girls.

As the children started to return to their homes for the night, the young girl noticed a man calling to her. He wore a fine suit, the old not seeming to bother him. His hair was white as the coming snow. Something about him frightened her, but intrigued her just the same. She heard her parents calling her from the house, but she approached the man, anyway.

_ He’s a strange man. _

“Hey there, nestling.”

“Who are you?”

The man smiled. “I’m a friend of your parents. Your father used to stop by my place every winter before you were born. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him. About six years by the sight of you, nestling.”

“Would you like to come say hello? I can go get my dad.”

The man shook his head. “No, that won’t be necessary. I just wanted to stop by and give you a gift.”

Orpheus and Eurydice’s calls for their daughter could still be discerned, voices more panicked. Hades took the girl’s hand and unfurled her fingers.

“This is for you. Never know when you’re going to need it.” He placed a small paper in her hand. “You better get going home, it sounds like your parents are looking for you.”

Melpomene turned around and started walking back towards the house as the first snow began to fall. As she came into sight of the house, Orpheus rushed to her and wrapped his arms around her.

“Never walk off like that again.” He pressed his face into her neck and kissed her forehead. Eurydice ran up behind him, her anxieties lowering after finding her daughter. She knew how scared Orpheus got over his girls being out of his sight for too long, especially come winter. After spending three fighting to retrieve the person he loved the most, he found himself even more wary with his own daughter. Eurydice knelt down in front of Melpomene.

“Where did you go? Are you alright?”

“I’m okay. There was a man, he wanted to give me something.”

Her parents exchanged a worried look. “Who was the man?” Eurydice asked.

“He said he was a friend, that daddy used to see him every winter.” Orpheus froze.

“What did he give you?” His voice was serious and low. Melpomene opened her palm to reveal a train ticket. Eurydice’s heart stopped and her hand began to shake.

_ Don’t make the same mistake I did. _

Orpheus held his daughter even tighter. “Get rid of that. That was a bad man, he was lying to you. He has hurt your mother and I, okay? Forget all about that.”

Melpomene nodded. “Okay, daddy.” The wind began to blow and she nuzzled herself deeper into her father’s arms. Orpheus lifted the child and followed Eurydice into the house. That night, they didn’t sleep. They stayed awake and watched the little girl in her bed. Orpheus softly played his lyre, Eurydice ran her fingers through her daughter’s hair. They did what they could to make that night peaceful for themselves, to not think of the nightmares and nights alone, but they were unaware of the small ticket still in their daughter’s coat pocket.


	3. Already Gone

It was the worst winter in a long time. It started early and wrecked havoc almost immediately. Food was scarce, fires wouldn’t last. Eurydice still begged for matches, and people gave them out of sympathy for Melpomene. They spent time getting food or blankets, but neither Eurydice nor Orpheus could ignore their daughter’s condition. She was sick. 

Every winter got harder with a young child. Melpomene’s first winter, having only been a few months old, they didn’t think they would get by. For her to stay healthy, Eurydice needed to be healthy, and that required food. Orpheus went hungry that winter, more than any other year of his life, but he was happy to do so to see his wife and child fed. They assumed they had figured it over the years, and the last two winters seemed easier for everyone. But now they were all starving,just like that first awful winter almost ten years ago with Eurydice. Melpomene laid curled up in her bed, wrapped in blankets but still shivering. Her parents would sit beside her, trying to ease her pain.

“Do you remember when you made me that beautiful flower crown in the summer?” Eurydice would ask. Orpheus would sing songs to her, telling her of when he played for gods.

He wondered why it wasn’t working. Why the earth wasn’t in tune anymore.

_ Have I done something wrong? _

Melpomene’s eyes were darker, her skin white. Orpheus held her hand, trying to warm it in his own. “I’m going to go get some food, bring you more blankets.”

“Daddy, it hurts.” Her voice was a whisper.

“I know. I will make it better. Look at me,” he lifted her head with his hand. Melpomene rarely opened her eyes unless coaxed by her father.

“I love you. Winter won’t last forever.” Orpheus ignored the pain in his own stomach and kissed her on the forehead. He wrapped her even tighter and left the small amount of bread they had on the table next to her, right next to Persephone’s flowers.

Eurydice was asleep in their bed, and Orpheus squeezed her hand before pulling on his jacket and stepping out into the freezing night. He was no good at knowing what to do in times of suffering, closing himself off from the world during his darkest years. Eurydice was always the one to go out, to keep them alive. She was clever and cunning, Orpheus was just desperate. There was always only one place he could go when the chips were down.

The bar was almost empty as the day ended, but Hermes was still there. It was as though he always knew the young man was looking for the messenger - perhaps he did. To understand the knowledge of the gods was not the place of a poet.

“What’s the matter?”

Orpheus closed his eyes and ran his hands through his hair. “I thought I fixed things, that my song made things better.”

“Didn’t they? It’s because of that song that you had your daughter.”

“Who I can barely help. Mr. Hermes, if you could see her-.” He trailed off, tears stinging his eyes.

The old god rested a hand on the boy’s shoulder. He was amazed by him, how much he had changed but how much the same he was. Years ago he was a young boy with a song, madly in love. Now he was a young man, a father. But he still had that innocence about him, hopeful and desperate to make a change with his art, his song the only thing he had to give.

“If the world was back in tune, why is this winter so bitter? Aren’t they happier, Persephone and Hades?”

“Brother, if I knew anything about their marriage, I would be down there visiting more often. Now, you have a family to get home to.” 

Orpheus left the god feeling better, although he didn’t know how. Reaching his door, that feeling left. 

_ Something is wrong. _

Orpheus pushed open the door, and he thought everything was silent before hearing muffled cries coming from Melpomene’s room. He dropped everything on the table and raced to her room, feeling it get harder to breathe with every second.

The room was cold, the air still. Eurydice was on the ground beside the bed, choking on her tears, their daughter’s small frame cradled in her arms.

_ Melpomene. _

Orpheus didn’t remember grabbing his child’s frozen hand and already stiffening fingers. He didn’t remember falling to the ground beside his wife, or holding her as tight as possible. She didn’t stop crying, but he didn’t start. Everything was a daze, nothing was real.

_ She’s not dead. No. No, she’s okay. I brought food, we’ll make a fire. She’s okay, she’s safe. She’s right there. Why is Eurydice crying? Mel is right there, she’s sleeping. She’s not dead. _

The word repeated itself in his head.

Dead.  _Dead._ **_Dead._ **

_ You failed again. _

Orpheus tried to speak, unsure if any sound came out at all.

“Eurydice.” He sounded lost, his eyes staring vacantly ahead. His wife’s words caught in her throat.

“I came to check on her. S-she didn’t wake up. She wasn’t brea-. Orpheus.” Eurydice let out a strangled breath before burying her face in his chest, their child still between them. For a moment, it was as though the howling wind stopped, allowing her howling cries to replace it.

Eurydice had been asleep. Orpheus had been gone.

_ Had she been alone? Was she scared? Did she know? _

The thoughts raced through Orpheus’ mind, tearing him apart. He still couldn’t cry, unable to process his new reality. The future he imagined, the future he and Eurydice fought so hard to create. Orpheus found himself stroking his daughter’s hair, just as he had whenever their situation got difficult. He still couldn’t look at his wife, his mind so far away he could barely hear her screams. Instead, he stared at Persephone’s red flowers.

Orpheus could have sworn he saw them start to wilt.


	4. It's A Tragedy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bear with me. The word "tragedy" is in this chapter a LOT.

Orpheus and Eurydice didn’t remember falling asleep, Eurydice crying until she couldn’t remain awake any longer and her husband staring so still in shock that his body simply shut down. When he first opened his eyes how couldn’t remember the events of the night prior. He only saw his wife curled up in his arms, her face still puffy and red.

“Eurydice?” His voice was soft, unsure of why he wanted to wake her but even less sure of why they were sleeping on the ground, much less of why she looked so distraught. And then he remembered.

_ Melpomene. _

Again, he was catatonic, the air leaving his lungs. Eurydice opened her eyes at Orpheus’ voice, the realization punching her in the heart the moment she awoke. Slowly, she lifted her head, temples pounding from hours spent in tears and restless sleep. Her mind still in a daze, Eurydice raised her eyes to meet her husband’s. Her voice was barely a choked whisper.

“Orpheus.” She wanted to cry, to scream, but nothing came out. They just sat and stared at each other, lost and empty. She went to grab his hands only to notice the open air between them. Where their daughter had once been held between them, there was now only each other.

“Mel... Orpheus, where is she?” The tears returned to her eyes and her voice caught in her throat while her lover shook his head.

“Orpheus,” she was pleading with him now. “Orpheus, please.” Eurydice broke down, head in his chest. Orpheus wrapped his arms around her and found himself returning to reality.

_ Mel is gone. She’s gone. You had one job, to keep them safe. Eurydice. She’s crying and it’s all your fault. Your daughter is dead because of you. I’m the reason she’s gone. _

_ My daughter is dead. _

Orpheus pulled himself away from his wife and stood beside his daughter’s bed. On the small table beside it was the vase of red carnations. He removed the from the glass, holding one in his hands. 

_ Come home with me. _

_ It will always be like this. _

_ Wait for me. _

So many memories rushed into his mind. Everything he had done, everything he had been through.

_ It’s me. _

_ Orpheus! _

He balled the flower up in his fist.

_ S-she didn’t wake up. She wasn’t brea-. _

Orpheus was not a violent man, never destructive. He would always use words to express himself, always find a song to fix a problem. But what do you say when you’ve lost your child? Can you say anything at all when the suffering in your chest is threatening to consume you whole? He picked up the vase and threw it against the wall, shattering it into pieces. Eurydice stopped crying and studied her husband. How he threw the vase, the tears welling up in his eyes, watched as he collapsed to the ground and bury his head in his knees, muffling his gasping sobs.

_ Was this what happened when he had been alone those years?  _ Somehow, she felt her heart break apart even more.

She sat next to her husband, head resting on his shoulder as he finally allowed himself to cry. As his breathing slowed and quieted, Eurydice repeated her question.

“Where is she? Orpheus, she was here.”

“I don’t know.” His voice was raw and strangled.

“Yes, you do. We both do.” Eurydice hung her head before looking to meet her poet’s eyes.

~

The bar was empty save for one man sitting at a table. It was as though everyone knew what had happened, why the two young lovers went to visit the god. Hermes looked at the young man he had come to care for like a son and the young woman who clung to his arm. He saw the way they barely carried themselves, how their neither seemed to process the world around them. But most importantly, he saw their eyes. It was true that eyes are the windows to the soul, and the old god had never seen eyes filled with such pain, souls shattered into as many pieces as theirs.

“Mr. Hermes.” Orpheus sounded tired, the music in his voice long gone.

“Don’t bother, brother. I know why you’re here.” He brought water for the couple but neither had the ability to drink it. Eurydice was next to speak.

“You do?”

“Of course I do. I was the one to help her on the train.”

Eurydice shook her head. “No, no, she couldn’t have been on the train. She didn’t have a ticket, and she was with us last night. We woke up and she-.”

“She was gone. You didn’t get to find out that way, but you board that train no matter what. Doesn’t matter where you are, if you’ve got the ticket then you’ll end up at that railroad.”

“But she didn’t have a ticket.”

“Didn’t she?”

_ Hades. Hades gave her one just before winter. _

Orpheus seemed to have caught that as well, his hands tightening into fists before he released them.

“Hades did this, didn’t he?”

Hermes shook his head. “Hades simply gave her the ticket. He knew it would be a bad winter, he just wanted her to prepared should she need it, that’s all.”

“Mr. Hermes, why did this happen? What did we do? What did  **_I_ ** do?”

“These things happen. Tell me, brother, do you remember what I said when you told me Melpomene’s name?”

“That it was the name of one of the Muses.”

“Do you know which one?”

“No, sir.”

Eurydice tightened her grip on her husband’s hand as the god spoke. Orpheus ran his thumb over her hand. Hermes looked at the pair with what they could only describe as remorseful knowledge. He spoke the same terrible word that had followed Orpheus and Eurydice from the moment they had met.

“Tragedy.”

Orpheus wanted to scream. It was a tragedy for a boy so young to be so hungry, it was a _tragedy_ his lover went underground, a **_tragedy_** he couldn’t save her. Everything in his life was a tragedy but he smiled through it. He and Eurydice did everything they could to finally bring joy into their lives, to move past all the tragedy. And what did he name their daughter?

_ Tragedy. I did this to her, this is my fault. _


	5. Keep On Walking

Melpomene looked around the room in awe. She didn’t understand where she was, but the sight momentarily steadied her fears. Large lights hung from the high ceiling, bathing the room in a light so bright and warm it almost seemed like summer despite her knowing she had gone to sleep when it was snowing. A beautiful staircase curled and reached upward to an ornate door. In the light, it looked like obsidian. She had never even been able to imagine a room so big and grand. As her amazement began to lull, an incredulous and familiar voice came from behind her.

“Melpomene?”

“Aunt Persephone!” The child ran to the goddess who stared back at her in disbelief.

“Aunt Persephone, I thought you went away? Daddy said we can’t see you in the winter.”

Persephone tried to maintain her composure as she knelt in front of the girl. “Mel, how are you here? Where are your parents? Your father?”

“I don’t know.”

“Baby, how did you get here?”

“I don’t know. I was in bed, daddy left so I went to sleep. I didn’t feel good, but I woke up and Mr. Hermes was there. He took me on a ride in a great big train! Daddy never let me see the train. Now I feel all better! Aunt Persephone, where are we?”

_ She’s too young. _

The goddess took the child’s hand and smiled. “You’re at my home. This is where I live in the winter, we call it Hadestown.”

Melpomene scrunched her face in disgust. “Is that like evil Mr. Hades? Momma told me he’s a bad man.”

“He’s not always so bad. Baby, I’m happy I found you. Do you want me to show you around?”

The girl’s eyes lit up, and she nodded. “Yes please!” Persephone scooped the child up in her arms and flipped her upside down over her shoulder. She had watched Orpheus do it a thousand times, never failing to make the little one laugh. Again, it succeeded and Melpomene burst into a fit out laugher. Persephone lowered her to the ground and smiled at her, hiding the panic and sorrow in her eyes.

_ This has to be a mistake. She can’t be…. _

Persephone, speaking quietly to nobody in particular, mused aloud.

“Your parents must be worried sick.”

~

The walk was longer than Orpheus remembered. The road to Hadestown was just as dark and cold, maybe more so. He hoped there would be nothing harder than going to hell for his wife. He never allowed himself to consider having to ever go for his own flesh and blood. Beside him, Eurydice stopped in her tracks.

“Orpheus.”

The boy turned and held his lover’s arms.

“Orpheus,” she said again, “I thought the last time we would ever walk this road was when we finally went home.”

“Shh.” He ran his hands up and down her arms.

“What if we-”

“Don’t. I’ve lost enough time over 'what if’s?’ We’ll get her back, as long as we stay with each other.”

He didn’t want to consider the “what if’s.” He had cycled plenty through his head already.

_ What if I had been home? What if I had worked more shifts? What if I had been a better father? _

No. An agonizing sorrow burned through his body, but he had to push on, had to push all those thoughts from his mind. When he was a child, Hermes taught him about grief after one of his few friends “moved away.”

“Moved to a place called Hadestown.” The god had told the small boy. Hermes had taught him the different stages of grief, and how to overcome them.

Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance. As an old god, Hermes had seen and felt his fair share of them numerous times, and he drilled different rules about them into the young poet’s brain. As a child, they were simple concepts that made sense. After losing Eurydice, he understood them better. But now they didn’t matter. Hermes and everyone else could call it whatever they wanted, but Orpheus didn’t care.

_ You can’t make up a word for this pain. _

Eurydice wiped the tears from her eyes. She took her husband’s hand, and they resumed their long walk. Faintly, the wind seemed to carry an all too familiar melody, a melody of gods. Orpheus sent a silent prayer to his daughter.

_ I’m coming. _


	6. The Girl Means Nothing To Me

Hades had only cared about two things - his work and his wife. God of the Underworld, married to the one who brought Earth to life. While Persephone would say he took his work too seriously, he always said he would give it all up for her if possible. But there was one thing the lovers had never agreed on, one thing Hades refused his wife.

For so long after they had first been wed, when they were still young and less hardened from so much time apart, Persephone had wanted children. Hades always said no. No, it would be too difficult when they were apart. No, a child couldn’t live amongst the dead, nor would they learn to value their life if they were never exposed to the bottom land. Truthfully, Hades wasn’t comfortable with children, and Persephone knew that fully well.

So when Persephone entered his office with a young girl behind her, Hades frowned. In the winter, it wasn’t uncommon for his wife to lead the young to him, easing their fears. Children had nothing to fear but how were they to know that? Those that understood their demise feared torment, and the others arrived in confusion, but Hades sent all children to the paradise of Elysium. Looking up from his desk, Hades got his first real look at the girl before him.

_Wait. No, no it can’t be. Could it?_

“Hades.” His wife spoke with quiet conviction, her eyes full of betrayal and sadness. The girl behind her stepped forward. “I know you, you’re the man who knows my daddy. He said you’re a bad man.” Melpomene scowled at him, and Hades would have been lying if he said it didn’t hurt him. Still, he kept his composure as he knelt in front of her.

“I understand your parents have taught you not to trust me. Tell me, Nestling, has your father ever told you who I am? Have your folks said why I saw them every year before you came along?”

“Hades.” Persephone’s tone warned him against speaking, yet he continued. He walked back to his desk and returned his attention to Melpomene.

“Do you know where you are?” The girl shook her head.

“Aunt Persephone said I’m in Hadestown.”

The old god smiled. “That’s right. And I’m the big bad Hades your momma warned you about. Look around, Nestling, is it really as scary as your parents made it seem?”

“That’s enough, Hades!” Persephone lost her cool and held the child closer. “She’s a little girl, don’t manipulate her like that.” The goddess lead the girl out of the office and into her sitting room.

“Baby, wait here, okay? I’ll be right back.”

“What does it mean to be in Hadestown? Why do my parents say Mr. Hades is a bad man?”

Persephone gave a sad smile. “I’ll explain everything soon, I promise.”

Returning to her lover’s office, she passed a man whose eyes carried the same look as all those who give up their lives for an eternity in the factories, much like a certain young woman had a decade prior.

_Did he have a family too?_

Entering the room, the goddess unleashed her rage against her husband. “What is she doing here, Hades? What did you do to her, to them?”

“Nothing, my dear.” That was the truth. All he had done was give someone a ticket in the event they need it. He had known it would be a harsh winter in the same way someone knew they were being watched, or the way the old wives seemed to be able to feel the exact moment it would rain.

_The same way Orpheus and Eurydice had known their daughter was in trouble by speaking with the mysterious old man at the beginning of winter._

Intuition. There were some things that could be sensed regardless of godly power or simple mortality. Hades had given Melpomene the ticket as a favor, a way to ease her suffering should it befall her. He had never planned on her truly using it.

“Why would you say that to her?”

“She deserved to know. She _wanted_ to know. I merely told her what the poet refuses to acknowledge. We can’t deny our pasts, Love.”

“Then don’t deny that our marriage was saved by him. And now you’ve terrified and confused his daughter. You saw her eyes, Hades. They’re her father’s. The same eyes that caused him to lose everything, and now he’s lost the most important girl in his life again. The least you could do is show her some compassion, some kindness to keep her from being so afraid.”

“Lover,” Hades said. “I’m showing kindness by not sending her to Elysium right now. I’m letting her wait for him. I’m sure we’ll be seeing those poet’s eyes again shortly.”


	7. Nothing Changes

The song Orpheus sang for the walls was not one of beautiful love, but one of mourning. The old melody that he had sung before now almost caught in his throat before being lifted by a joining voice. Eurydice laced her fingers with his and sang with him, their song pleading until they could enter back into Hell.

_ La la la la la la la. _

It looked different than they remembered. An electric city set down to dim. It felt brighter, cleaner, more open. Like there was love in Hadestown. Strained love, but love nonetheless. The couple were barely through the walls when they heard his voice.

“Welcome back, Poet. I’ve been expecting you.”

“Where is she?”

“Not so fast, son.” Hades looked down from the stairs leading to his office. Before him were two people he knew very well, but older. They were still young, infants compared to him, but older. Years of raising a child put lines of the boy’s forehead and bags under his wife’s eyes. They looked tired, a deep sadness that consumed their entire beings. Hades had seen that same look in Orpheus years before. The old god walked casually down the stairs to the pair.

“Hello, Songbird. Long time, no see.”

Eurydice’s voice spit venom. “Where is my daughter, Hades?”

“With the Missus. I’m not going to waste my time asking _ why _ you’re here, but you have no right to be. I was far too lenient with you, now you come barging in where you don’t belong looking for someone else?”

Orpheus was no longer afraid of Hades. “Let us see her.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possib-” A door swung open.

“Don’t you dare, Hades.” Persephone emerged, anger lighting her eyes. “Don’t you keep her from them.”

“Lady Persephone.”

“She’s here, Orpheus. She’s right here.” Persephone turned back towards the door, hand outstretched. Melpomene took hold and walked out cautiously at first before seeing her parents, racing towards them. Eurydice collapsed to the floor to hold her child, Orpheus following in her wake. They brushed her hair with their hands and held her until they thought she would break.

“My sweet baby.”

Their reunion was cut short by Hades clearing his throat. “Well, this is a touching scene, but I’m afraid I’ve already broken enough of my rules for you two.”

Orpheus looked up at the man. “Please, don’t take her away again.”

“Take? I never  _ took _ her in the first place. I don’t kill people, I merely maintain the ones who have already passed.”

“Then why did she have a ticket?”

“Winters are cruel, children are weak.”

Persephone scowled. “The winters were not cruel after he was here. After everything he did for us. If the winter is long and bitter like before, it is because you are growing cold with it again.”

Hades smiled coyly. “Our game wasn’t complete.”

Eurydice forced herself to pull away from her daughter to address the god. “You undid everything we went through to make your marriage happy again because you wanted us to go through this again?” Boiling tears fell down her cheeks.

“Son, do you remember how many strikes I said I would give you?”

“Three.”

“And how many did it take?”

The realization dawned on Orpheus. “Two.”

“This is what I propose. One more walk. If you lead your two little ladies out, then consider yourself free. If you fail  _ again _ ,” mockery dripped from his words, “then the child is our. My dear wife always wanted a daughter, perhaps..”

“Hades.” Persephone turned away in disgust. Hades’ attention didn’t waver from the young lovers before him.

“So, Poet, what’s it going to be?”

Orpheus looked at his family. At the wife he had done this before more times than he could let himself remember, at the daughter too young to comprehend the situation. But then she looked up at her father with the eyes that had melted his heart the moment he first saw her, the eyes that he could never refuse. That glittered in the sun and lit up a room when she sang.

_ I can’t lose her. _

Eurydice seemed to read his mind and she nodded her head slowly. The three of them held hands, the husband’s forehead against his wife’s.

“We get her out. And we go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO UPDATE!!!
> 
> But seriously, I've been really depressed and writing just felt impossible. But with all the quarantine free time I'me forcing myself back into it because I feel so guilty abandoning my stories. I promise I'm going to finish this thing!


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